Why Does Music Evoke Strong Emotions?

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-165
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Levitin ◽  
Lindsay A. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Sexual Pleasure ◽  
Aesthetic Responses ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Reward Pathways ◽  
Biological Substrates ◽  
Musical Emotion ◽  
The Brain

Although much is known about the brain mechanisms underlying music perception and cognition, there is much work to be done in understanding aesthetic responses to music: Why does music make us feel the way we do? Why does it make us feel anything? In the article under discussion, the authors suggest that the brain’s own endogenous opioids mediate musical emotion, using the hypothesis of naltrexone-induced musical anhedonia. They conclude that endogenous opioids are critical to experiencing both positive and negative emotions in music and that music uses the same reward pathways as food, drugs, and sexual pleasure. Their findings add to the growing body of evidence for the evolutionary biological substrates of music.

scholarly journals Cannabinoids on the Brain

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 632-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Irving ◽  
Mark G. Rae ◽  
Angela A. Coutts
Keyword(s):  
Cannabinoid Receptor ◽  
Endocannabinoid System ◽  
Medicinal Uses ◽  
Cellular Targets ◽  
Analgesic Effects ◽  
Current State ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Type ◽  
Reward Pathways ◽  
The Brain

Cannabis has a long history of consumption both for recreational and medicinal uses. Recently there have been significant advances in our understanding of how cannabis and related compounds (cannabinoids) affect the brain and this review addresses the current state of knowledge of these effects. Cannabinoids act primarily via two types of receptor, CB1and CB2, with CB1receptors mediating most of the central actions of cannabinoids. The presence of a new type of brain cannabinoid receptor is also indicated. Important advances have been made in our understanding of cannabinoid receptor signaling pathways, their modulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity, the cellular targets of cannabinoids in different central nervous system (CNS) regions and, in particular, the role of the endogenous brain cannabinoid (endocannabinoid) system. Cannabinoids have widespread actions in the brain: in the hippocampus they influence learning and memory; in the basal ganglia they modulate locomotor activity and reward pathways; in the hypothalamus they have a role in the control of appetite. Cannabinoids may also be protective against neurodegeneration and brain damage and exhibit anticonvulsant activity. Some of the analgesic effects of cannabinoids also appear to involve sites within the brain. These advances in our understanding of the actions of cannabinoids and the brain endocannabinoid system have led to important new insights into neuronal function which are likely to result in the development of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of a number of key CNS disorders.

The Origins of Music and of Tonal Languages

2019 ◽  
pp. 220-244
Author(s):  
Robert C. Ehle
Keyword(s):  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Musical Emotion ◽  
The Brain ◽  
The Way

This chapter offers the author's theory of the origins of music in ancient primates a million years ago, and what music would have sounded like. Origins of nasal and tone languages and the anatomy of larynx is discussed, and then a hypothesis is presented that these creatures would fashioned a tone language. They had absolute pitch that allowed them to recognize other voices, to read each other's emotions from the sounds they made with their voices, and to convey over long distances specific information about strategies, meeting places, etc. Having an acute sense of pitch, they would have sung, essentially using tonal language for aesthetic and subjective purposes. Thus, they would have invented music. Then the physicality of the human (or hominid) voice is discussed and the way an absolute pitch can be acquired, as the musicality still lies in the vocalisms it expresses. The reason for this is that music is actually contained in the way the brain works, and the ear and the voice are parts of this system. The final part discusses the origins of musical emotion as the case for imprinting in the perinatal period.

Scene Preferences, Aesthetic Appeal, and Curiosity

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
Edward A. Vessel ◽  
Xiaomin Yue ◽  
Irving Biederman
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Network Modeling ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Neural Network Modeling ◽  
Opioid Activity ◽  
Hedonic Value ◽  
Aesthetic Responses ◽  
Neural Ensembles ◽  
Parahippocampal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Experience

A gradient of µ-opioid receptors extends from early sensory areas of the cerebral cortex to associative cortex, with the greatest density of receptors in the most anterior associative regions. In 2006, Biederman and Vessel proposed that the hedonic value of perceptual and cognitive experience is a function of activation of this gradient. A desire for opioid activity provided by this gradient renders us infovores, always seeking novel but richly interpretable experiences. Richly interpretable experiences engage the opioid-dense anterior regions of the gradient, while novel experiences engage neural ensembles that have yet to undergo adaptation. Support for this proposal derives from the greater activity elicited in opioid-rich parahippocampal cortex for preferred over nonpreferred scenes, with neural network modeling of visual aesthetic responses suggesting that representations in later stages are more predictive of aesthetic responses, and psychopharmacological experiments that support the potential involvement of endogenous opioids.

Current trends in the study of music and emotion: Overture

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik N. Juslin ◽  
Marcel R. Zentner
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Current State ◽  
Good Grasp ◽  
Sixth International Conference ◽  
Music And Emotion ◽  
Musical Emotion ◽  
Sixth International

The study of musical emotion is currently witnessing a renaissance. However, the literature on music and emotion still presents a confusing picture. The conceptual terrain is still being mapped, and considerable refinement is still needed in how we study music and emotion. With all the research currently devoted to this subject, it is all the more important that we have a good grasp of the current state of the art, so that we do not invent the wheel twice. With this aim in mind, the present authors organized a symposium at the Sixth International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition in Keele, UK, August, 2000. The intention was to bring together several researchers who have made theoretical and empirical contributions to the field in order to display “Current trends in the study of music and emotion”. This special issue presents extended and revised papers from that symposium, including a number of additional contributions. In this paper, we provide an introduction. We discuss the historical background, highlight the primary issues as they relate to the contents of the others contributions, and finally consider the gap that exists between art and science.

scholarly journals Endogenous opioids in the nucleus accumbens promote approach to high-fat food in the absence of caloric need

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Caref ◽  
Saleem M Nicola
Keyword(s):  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Receptor Antagonist ◽  
Neural Control ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Neuronal Firing ◽  
Palatable Food ◽  
Sugar Consumption ◽  
High Fat ◽  
The Brain

When relatively sated, people (and rodents) are still easily tempted to consume calorie-dense foods, particularly those containing fat and sugar. Consumption of such foods while calorically replete likely contributes to obesity. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) opioid system has long been viewed as a critical substrate for this behavior, mainly via contributions to the neural control of consumption and palatability. Here, we test the hypothesis that endogenous NAc opioids also promote appetitive approach to calorie-dense food in states of relatively high satiety. We simultaneously recorded NAc neuronal firing and infused a µ-opioid receptor antagonist into the NAc while rats performed a cued approach task in which appetitive and consummatory phases were well separated. The results reveal elements of a neural mechanism by which NAc opioids promote approach to high-fat food despite the lack of caloric need, demonstrating a potential means by which the brain is biased towards overconsumption of palatable food.

Musical Illusions and Phantom Words

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Deutsch
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Musical Ability ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Early Form ◽  
The Real ◽  
Musical Patterns ◽  
Psychology Of Music ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

In this groundbreaking synthesis of art and science, Diana Deutsch, one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of music, shows how illusions of music and speech – many of which she discovered - have fundamentally altered thinking about the brain. These astonishing illusions show that people can differ strikingly in how they hear musical patterns - differences that reflect both variations in brain organization and influences of language on music perception. They lead Deutsch to examine questions such as: When an orchestra performs a symphony, what is the ‘real’ music? Is it in the mind of the composer, or the conductor, or different members of the audience? Deutsch also explores extremes of musical ability, and other rare responses to music and speech. Why is perfect pitch so rare? Why are some people unable to recognize simple tunes? Why do some people hallucinate music or speech? Why do we hear phantom words and phrases? Why are most people subject to stuck tunes, or ‘earworms’? Why do we hear a spoken phrase as sung just because it is presented repeatedly? In evaluating these questions, she also shows how music and speech are intertwined, and argues that they stem from an early form of communication that had elements of both. Many of the illusions described here are so striking and paradoxical that you need to hear them to believe them. So the book enables you to listen to the sounds that are described while reading about them.

Music, Maestro, Please: Thalamic multisensory integration in music perception, processing and production

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Artur Jaschke
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Initial Point ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Neural Connections ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
The Brain

Music activates a wide array of brain areas involved in different functions such as   perception, processing and execution of music. Understanding musical processes in the brain has multiple implications in the neuro- and health sciences.  Challenging the brain with a multisensory stimulus such as music activates responses beyond the auditory cortex of the temporal lobe. Other areas that are involved include the frontal lobes, parietal lobes, areas of the limbic system such as the amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus, the cerebellum and the brainstem. Nonetheless, there has been no attempt to summarize all involved brain areas in music into one overall encompassing map. This may well be, as there has been no thorough theory introduced, which would allow an initial point of departure in creating such a mapTherefore, a thorough systematic review has been conducted to identify all mentioned neural connections involved in the perception, processing and execution of music.  Communication between the thalamic nuclei is the initial step in multisensory integration, which lies at the base of the neural networks as proposed in this paper. Against this background, this manuscript introduces the to our knowledge first map of all brain regions involved in the perception, processing and execution of music.Consequently, placing thalamic multisensory integration at the core of this atlas allowed us to create a preliminary theory to explain the complexity of music induced brain activation.

scholarly journals Response Properties of Nucleus Reticularis Lateralis Neurons After Electroacupuncture Stimulation in Rats

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (05) ◽  
pp. 869-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kentaro Moritaka ◽  
Jorge L. Zeredo ◽  
Mari Kimoto ◽  
Fajar H. Nasution ◽  
Takafumi Hirano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Lateral Part ◽  
Response Properties ◽  
Acupuncture Stimulation ◽  
Nucleus Reticularis ◽  
Pain Transmission ◽  
Raphe Magnus ◽  
The Brain

A descending inhibitory mechanism from the periaqueductal gray (PAG) to the spinal cord through the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) is strongly involved in endogenous analgesic system produced by acupuncture stimulation. In addition to the PAG to NRM system which descends in the medial pathway of the brain stem, the nucleus reticularis lateralis (NRL) situated in the lateral part of the brain stem is reported to play an important role in modulating centrifugal antinociceptive action. In the present study, to clarify the role of NRL in acupuncture analgesia, we investigated the response properties of NRL neurons to acupuncture stimulation. The majority of NRM-projecting NRL neurons were inhibited by electroacupuncture stimulation. This effect was antagonized by ionophoretic application of naloxone, indicating that endogenous opioids act directly onto these NRL neurons. By contrast, about half of spinal projecting NRL neurons were excited by electroacupuncture stimulation, suggesting that part of the NRL neurons may modulate pain transmission directly at the spinal level.

Biological Influences on Physical Activity During Childhood

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Rowland
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
General Population ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Daily Energy Expenditure ◽  
Prevention And Treatment ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Daily Energy ◽  
Treatment Of Obesity ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Biologic Control

A growing body of evidence implicates the existence of a functional subconscious governor in the brain, which controls level of habitual physical activity. Such a biologic control, acting in a classic feedback loop mechanism, might serve to contribute to the defense of energy balance. Many questions remain unanswered regarding the pliability of biologic control of activity and the extent that it might dictate daily energy expenditure. A consideration of this concept bears importance for those seeking an understanding of the mechanisms, prevention, and treatment of obesity as well as the link between exercise and health in the general population.

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